Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco

Description

Checklist

Transportation to venue offered:  no
Terrain:  uneven in some places
Paths and walkways:  paved and stone
Doors:  none
Ramps:  to main entrance
Steps and staircases:  two steps to gift shop
Width of aisles:  plenty of room
Places to sit:  some benches throughout
Location of restrooms:  near the teahouse
Type of restroom:  multi-stall, handicapped-accessible stall
Ease of entry and exit:  easy
Baby changing station:  yes
Available food services:  tea house
Friendliness of staff:  helpful and pleasant
Notes:  * The Garden is located in Golden Gate Park. Parking is available along the street winding through the park, in the parking garage under the de Young Museum or in the Ocean Beach Parking area(requiring a shuttle bus ride).

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On one of our “not busy” days in Berkeley we headed to Golden Gate Park, intending to visit the the Young Museum.  We thought we were quite fortunate in finding a parking space on the street close to the museum.  Unfortunately, we did not take our own advice and look at the website before starting out.  We discovered that the museum was closed.  We thought about trying to tag on to a private group that was going in but chickened out.  We didn’t want to give up our great parking spot so we headed to the Japanese Tea Garden.  We had visited this beautiful place before and are always happy to return.  This time we visited with Destination:Accessible eyes.

The Japanese Tea Garden, located in Golden Gate Park, is the oldest public Japanese garden in the U.S.  It is “…one of the most popular attractions in San Francisco, featuring classic elements such as an arch drum bridge, pagodas, stone lanterns, stepping stone paths, native Japanese plants, serene koi ponds and a zen garden.” (website)

The Garden “…provides visitors with an opportunity to experience the natural beauty, tranquility and harmony of a Japanese style garden in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.  Originally created as a Japanese Village exhibit for the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, the site originally spanned about one acre. ” (website) The Garden is now approximately five acres.  If you are interested in more of its fascinating history, take a look at the website.

A ramp gets one to the open main entrance.  Once you have paid admission you will find paved paths, some of which have seen better days.  Some of the paths are of a stone which may be a challenge for carriages and/or wheelchairs.  One can get around the garden on accessible paths.  Unfortunately, there are no clear markings for the wheelchair accessible paths, except for the one leading to the tea house.  Although it may be a bit of a challenge to find one’s way around the accessible paths, it is worth it even if you have to retrace some of your steps.  Each area is wonderful to see more than once.

The tea house is a lovely, accessible place to stop for a cup of tea and snack in a serene setting. We can never resist !  Besides the tea house, some benches can be found throughout the Garden.

Multi-stall, handicapped-accessible restrooms with a large handicapped stall have baby-changing stations.  They are easy to enter and exit.

I had remembered that the shop here offers some beautiful items.  I had not thought about it on past visits, but this time I noticed that there are two steps up to the entrance.  Although this destination is not completely accessible, enough of it is to make this a place visitors to San Francisco should experience.

As always, we at Destination Accessible advise you to check a venue’s website, www.japaneseteagardensf.com, when planning a visit, to “know before you go.”

Location

Nearby